Armchair Musher Challenge: February 2020
Blair posted the following challenge to Twitter on February 4, 2020https://twitter.com/BlairBraverman/status/1224752630364352517: Your task is to arrange these dogs into two 8-dog teams (2 lead dogs, 4 team dogs, and 2 wheel dogs on each team). You have 48 hours to decide. The winner(s) will get an awesome prize related to the sled dog of their choosing. Hints # Each team needs at least one command leader and one other leader. # When in doubt, avoid running two non-neutered males or two non-spayed females together. # The wind is coming from the team's left side. # Wheel dogs are often among the biggest and strongest. # We are also assuming that no females are in heat, that the terrain is pretty simple, etc. That said, when in doubt, I always like to run males and females next to each other. # Flame and Jenga are both assertive. # If you avoid running yearlings next to each other, you’ll have fewer tangles. # Jeff Sharlet and Boo don’t like Jules. # Jenga gets impatient with yearlings. Dogs # Hari, male, neutered. Hari is gentle to everyone, but he'll get stressed if he's next to an assertive female. He runs best in the middle of the team. # Zagat, male, yearling. Fluffy, assertive, and energetic. Not yet a command leader, but he will be soon. Excellent leader in training. Big, smart, cuddly. # Flame, female, spayed. Short furred, runs best in team, crabby with girls, loves fashion. # Spike, male, neutered. Huge, fluffy, gentle, exceptional athlete. Friends with Colbert. Can run in lead or anywhere else. # Dora, female, yearling. Bossy, enthusiastic, chaos incarnate! Fluffy and strong. Smart but needs to tire herself out before she can really think. # Refried, female, spayed. Is great at motivating the team in tough sections! Refried can be timid with other females. Runs best in team. # Donut, female, spayed. Donut is a force of nature! Unstoppable and assertive. She runs best in team. She is very short and strong. # Colbert, male. Runs with anyone except yearling males. Thick fur, great appetite, always happy. Excellent in wheel. # Helli, female. Hyperactive, endlessly energetic, assertive with other dogs, shy with new people. If she has to wait too long, she might chew her harness. # Jeff Sharlet, male, neutered. Tender-hearted, runs well in the middle of the team. Big and gentle. Runs best with girls. # Pepé, female, spayed. A rockstar leader who doesn't suffer fools. Runs well with both males and females, and is happy in both single and double lead. # Jules, male, yearling. Energetic! Should be brought to the gang-line last so he doesn't tangle himself. Runs particularly well with assertive females. # Boo, male. Boo can run forever; he never wants to stop. Can run anywhere in the team (including lead). Very short fur. # Jenga, female, spayed. Command leader and boss bitch. Dislikes nonsense. Runs well anywhere in the team, but she has short fur, so does best on the downwind side. # Biggie, male, yearling. Huge and affectionate, runs best with girls. Thick, fluffy fur, and a great appetite. Playful! # Grinch, male, neutered. Very strong! Must be brought to the gang-line last, or he'll single-handedly pull hard enough to break ropes. Runs best in the middle or back of the team. Playing Responses could be submitted as a reply to a specific tweet. 'Worst' teams could also be submitted as a reply to this tweet for an honorary red lantern. Prize Per Blair: "The prize will include, but is not limited to, a pawprint 'signed' photo of your sled dog of choice, which is something I’ve never tried before so it might be a disaster but we’ll see how it goes!"